Even though they were playing on their home court Saturday afternoon, the North Little Rock Lady Charging Wildcats were on the visitors bench and sporting their road blue uniforms.
But make no mistake, North Little Rock felt right at home.
Junior guard De'Myla Brown scored a game-high 23 points and senior post player Yo'Myris Morris added 15 points and 20 rebounds as the Lady Charging Wildcats coasted to a 77-38 victory over rival Little Rock Central in the Class 7A state tournament semifinals.
North Little Rock (25-4) advances to the state title game at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs for the third year in a row. The date and time of the championship game will be announced today.
"I think our kids are pretty locked in right now," North Little Rock Coach Daryl Fimple said. "They're listening so well. The seniors are showing such great leadership. We're so good at sharing the basketball, it's unbelievable."
North Little Rock made an impression early and rarely stepped off the gas. The Lady Charging Wildcats hit their first four field-goal attempts, scored 15 of the game's first 17 points and held Central to 1-of-10 shooting in the first quarter.
North Little Rock led 22-6 at the end of one quarter. By halftime, it was 39-19. North Little Rock also scored the first 10 points of the second half.
"Today was their day," Central Coach Michael Green said. "I mean everything they shot up went in. They're a deep team at the guard and inside positions. I got as much out of mine as I could get."
It was the fourth meeting between the teams this season with North Little Rock winning all four. But in the two previous games, North Little Rock's victories were by a combined seven points -- 68-62 on Jan. 5 and 47-46 on Feb. 22.
"We were hitting the open man, and we kept moving and moving the ball until we got the best shot," said Brown, who also had three steals and three rebounds. "We kept attacking, attacking, attacking because that's when a defense gets tired."
North Little Rock hit 26 of 55 field-goal attempts, limited its turnovers to 9 and outrebounded the Lady Tigers 36-26. Of her 20 rebounds, Morris collected eight on the offensive end.
"I get yelled at for not going up with two hands," Morris said. "Tonight I did, and the ball was a lot easier to get a hold of."
"When you get that -- especially against them because they make their living by rebounding the basketball -- it's big," Fimple said. "We made it really tough on their guards. And then we made it tough on [Central senior] Erynn [Barnum]. We put enough bodies in front of her and kept it out of her hands."
Central (19-10) showed a brief moment of life in the second half. Trailing 55-23 with 3:01 left in the third quarter, the Lady Tigers scored 14 of the next 15 points, but two free throws by Morris and Brown's fifth and final three-pointer put Central's run to rest.
Barnum scored 13 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and made 3 steals. Junior Ariyanna Hall added 12 points, but no other Lady Tiger had more than five points. Central hit 12 of 43 field-goal attempts and 12 of 21 free-throw attempts.
"Erynn battled hard and tried to lead, but North Little Rock was clicking on all cylinders today," Green said. "It didn't help that we started out by not making shots."
Amber Hawkison added 12 points and handed out five assists for North Little Rock. Junior guard Jordon Neal hit 5 of 6 free-throw attempts and finished with 9 points and 4 assists.
"Last year, getting beat in the finals, it kind of left a little gravel in their gut," Fimple said. "Like I've told them, we're not done. This was what we were supposed to do."
CONWAY 54,
FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 43
After Fort Smith Northside applied its press, Conway applied Asiyha Smith.
Smith, a 5-7 junior, scored seven of her game-high 20 points early in the fourth quarter as the Lady Wampus Cats turned back the Lady Bears in Saturday’s late semifinal.
Northside (26-4) never led in the second half but got as close as one point twice before Smith turned the momentum back in favor of the Lady Cats.
Conway led 37-28 midway through the third quarter when Northside freshman Jersey Wolfenbarger hit a three-pointer. Northside immediately called timeout to set up its press. Two Conway turnovers later, the Lady Bears were within 37-34 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Northside junior Sara Bershers, who had 30 points in Friday’s victory over Bentonville, was limited to 11 points — 2 in the second half — against Conway. Wolfenbarger scored all 10 of her points in the final two minutes of the third quarter. Deairah Mays added nine points.
Conway junior Myla Yelder scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds. Senior Cardrina Nolen pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds and blocked three shots.
Sports on 03/04/2018